


I'd be the last shred of truth, in the lost myth of true love.

by lgbtimelord



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Amnesia, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-10-01 21:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20414212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lgbtimelord/pseuds/lgbtimelord
Summary: Sometimes you save the woman you love.And sometimes you lose all your memories of her because of it.





	I'd be the last shred of truth, in the lost myth of true love.

> _I'd be the voice that urged orpheus_
> 
> _When her body was found (hey, yeah)_
> 
> _I'd be the choiceless hope in grief_
> 
> _That drove him underground (hey, yeah)_
> 
> _I'd be the dreadful need in the devotee_
> 
> _That made him turn around (hey, yeah)_
> 
> _And I'd be the immediate forgiveness_
> 
> _In eurydice_
> 
> _Imagine being loved by me._   
  
  


The first thing Penelope feels is the soft sheets around her along with the pain across her entire body, _what the hell ___happened___?_, she couldn't remember. She couldn't remember anything at all. _Why can't I remember anything? What's happening? Who am I?_. She tried to move but was only able to let out a groan instead.

"Penelope," A soft voice said above her. _Penelope, yes, that's my name._ She open her eyes only to be dazzled by the light of the room. She tried again, taking a moment to get used to it, when she looked up she was met with watery big brown eyes, "you're alright. God, I was so worried", the girl smiled and Penelope couldn't help be think she was beautiful. Her brown hair was a little bit below her shoulders but it was messy, in a I Was Just Sleeping kind of way.  
That's when she felt the hand grabbing hers, the brown haired girl's hand, and felt some kind of Deja Vu. As if their hands had been together before. _Who are you? Why are you holding my hand? Why are you crying? Stop crying, please_. As if reading her mind the girl laughed, "Don't worry, these are happy tears," she bit her lip and tuck some of her hair behind her ear "How are you feeling?" Penelope tried to answer but was only able to cough and as if just noticing her mistake the brown eyed girl stood up, took the glass of water from the little table beside her and helped Penelope drink some of it, "Do you... Do you want to sit up?" Still panting from her coughing fit Penelope only nodded and with help from the girl she was able to sit up and could finally look around the room she was in. It was a simple room, the bed was in the middle of it, right in front of the door. There was a window at Penelope's right and the chair the beautiful girl must have been sitting. At her left there was a desk empty except for the dirty bandages and the scissors on top of it, she guesses they might be hers.  
She could see the painting in the walls was darker in some places than in others, as if pictures or posters were hanging in it before they were removed. Anyhow, that wasn't the thing that catched her attention the most. It was the picture frame in the little table beside her bed, there were two people on it. One of them was her and the other was the girl sitting in front of her but she couldn't remember taking that picture.  
They looked happy, they were at some kind of park and Penelope was smiling and had her arms wrapped around girl and she was kissing Penelope's cheek. It was a really cute picture but instead of comfort it only brought her pain, she couldn't remember that moment. _Why can't I remember?_ _Who is this girl?_.  
She heard the door open and the same girl came in, she hadn't noticed she had left at all. "Emma will be here in a few minutes-" she said while moving to the bed and sitting at Penelope's side- "Promise me you'll never do anything so stupid again." _Who's Emma? What did I do?_ She wanted to ask but the girl was looking at her with so much care that she didn't have the heart to ask, she has always been weak for pretty girls. "Okay. I promise." She managed to said and felt a cough coming up so she took the glass of water and drank what was left in it. She tensed when she felt two hands grab her face and the girl's forehead resting against hers.  
"Penelope, I-" the girl started but Penelope knew that whatever it was the girl wanted to say wasn't for her, it was for the person with memories, the person who knew who this girl knew and the person that might have loved her at some point. So she interrupted her. "Who _are_ you?"  
And just like that, Josie's world fell apart again.  
She moved her head back so she could look better at Penelope, "What- what do you mean who am I? I'm Josie," her eyes had started watering again, "you remember me, right?. I'm Josie, your Josie, you have to remember me, Penelope." _My Josie? Who is this girl? Why is she mine? What does it mean that she's mine?_.   
She gently took Josie's hands away from her face, "I'm sorry but I don't know who you are." The girl, _Josie,_ she remind herself, looked devastated. The tears that were making her eyes look brighter before were running through her cheeks now.  
Their attention turned to the women opening the door, she asked what was wrong when she saw Josie crying. Josie didn't say anything, she only stood up and left the room before Penelope was able to say anything to stop her.

Amnesia the woman, Emma, had said. One of the consequences of almost dying to save the woman you love and her sister, apparently.  
It wasn't complete amnesia though, she could remember spells and how to do some potions. She could remember she had a mom who was really strict and a dad that liked to play the piano after drinking a few glasses of wine. She could remember she had a little sister that loved holidays and waking her up by throwing herself on top of Penelope. She could remember her favorite quote from her favorite book and the songs that she listened to when she was reading. She couldn't remember much more after that, not the reason why she left the school nor the reason why she came back. She guessed it had something to do with Josie, she couldn't remember why though, and Penelope wasn't sure what was worse, the pain from her toes to her head and that when Josie was holding her hand that same pain semmed duller or the fact that Josie hadn't showed up to her room since she woke up and Penelope said she doesn't remember her. She doesn't understand the pull she feels towards the girl, she doesn't know her, and it looked like everyone was strictly forbidden from telling her what they were to each other.

She had received a couple of visits the day after waking up.  
First came a blonde woman, said her name was Caroline and they had been working together before. Yeah, _before_, that was the new word for _y___ou___ almost died and now you can't remember anything_ but, however, she was nice. She was kind and funny. She realized when she needed more water and when she needed to adjust her pillows, she was almost like a Deja Vu of her own mother. She had stayed at her side for almost three hours and talked to her about anything but the fact that she couldn't remember or the burning pain inside her body. Penelope was thankful for it, it served as a distraction, and before she noticed, she had fallen sleep to the woman's voice. And if Caroline gave her a kiss on the forehead and softly whispered "Thank you for saving my girls," before leaving, then Penelope guessed that whatever she had done _before_, it was definitely the right thing.

Lizzie, Caroline's daughter and Josie's sister and one of the girls she had saved, was the entire opposite. She decided that the best way to help Penelope was to tell her everything about _before_. She told Penelope how she thought she was the most annoying person she has ever met, always knowing everyone's secrets and using them to her own gain but somehow making everyone love her anyway. She told her how she hated it when she started hanging out with Josie because she thought she was taking advantage of her and Josie was too sweet to realized it. How all that turned them into basically enemies, always trying to make the other's life miserable. How she called her Satan and the devil's daughter and such. Lizzie told her about how they fought about Josie and the way Lizzie took all the attention to herself and always left Josie in the background, about how she's trying to change that now. "What I'm trying to say-" she started while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, a movement Penelope noticed not only on her but in her mother and sister- "it's that I hated you so much, you made me lose my mind most of the time. But... You weren't completely wrong and you were doing it for Josie so, I'm sorry. I'm sorry this is happening to you because you decided to be a stupid hero, and-" she added while softly punching Penelope on her shoulder- "that was really dumb, don't do it again."  
Once she was gone with a promise of coming back soon and help her decorate her room a little, because, "Seriously, Penelope, if I'm going to spend any amount of time here this is not going to look like an abandoned room from a horror movie", Penelope took note of the past tense in which Lizzie spoke in her extensive storytelling, _hated_ not hate, and she decided that even if she didn't used to like Lizzie _before_, she likes her now.

The next person to visit her was a vampire. His name was MG, short for Milton Greasley, said that is what everyone calls him but that sometimes she used to call him Milton to annoy him, but he didn't really mind. They used to be best friends, he said. She looked at his comic book t-shirt, a Superman logo she thinks, the stack of boardgames in his hands and raises an eyebrow, "I- I mean," he stuttered, "kinda? I didn't talk to you for a bit when you and Jo- well, you know, well, you don't know know but sti-" Penelope took the boy out of his misery and interrupted him, asking about which game they were playing. His smile was radiant when she did and they spent the afternoon playing boardgames. He got sad when she couldn't understand one of their supposed inside jokes but he never said anything, only looked away and moved on. She understood after a few questions that asking them made MG either nervous or sad. She realized questions like "How did we meet?", "Why are you here on summer?" and "How did you become a vampire?" made him sad, probably because she knew the answers before. Questions like "Do you know what happened to me?" and "What's the deal with that Josie girl?" only turned MG into a stuttering and bubbling mess who stayed quiet for at least five minutes after, supposedly trying to "focus on the game". Nevertheless, MG was kind, funny and a complete feminist so she realized that whatever she was doing _before_ was kinda good if he was her friend.

On the fourth day after waking up a short readhead came to visit her, her name was Hope. She brought Penelope an old book because she thought she might be bored; which, honestly, she was, even if she spent most of her days sleeping because she was too exhausted to do anything more than going to the bathroom. So, she liked Hope instantly. Hope was quiet when Penelope wanted quiet, Hope was loud and made her laugh when Penelope was in a bad mood. Hope was serious when Penelope talked to her about her struggles and frustrations. Hope was sassy and witty with her comebacks when Penelope tried to tease her. And she was different than everyone else: she wasn't like Caroline or MG, never speaking about _before_ because it might hurt her feelings by not remembering, nor like Lizzie, telling her as much about it as she can.  
Hope only answered when there was a question. Not a word more and not a word less, it was freeing somehow, knowing that she wouldn't lie to her. Sometimes it was exciting though, it was like listening to a story from the sides, knowing she was there and she had done all that Hope told her. Questions like "Were we friends?" went from "No, not really. But we did kill a bunch of zombies together" to a detailed story of how that happened. Penelope did notice how she had done it to "save Josie" in that specific story but decided against asking about it.  
Hope never lies to her but that doesn't mean she doesn't avoid certain subjects and questions like "How did I almost die?", "Who's Josie?", "What was she to me?" but Hope was the closest thing she had to a friend at the moment because, even if they had known each other _before_, they weren't friends. So the pressure of having to be like she used to be was gone, she could be herself with no memories and no idea what the fuck was going on.

Penelope gave up on Josie coming to visit her any time soon after the fifth day. She did, however, found out little things about her in MG's or Lizzie's visits. Like in the day MG blurted out Josie had missed her like crazy in the five months she had spent in Belgium, which brought more questions to Penelope. _I was in Belgium? Why was I there? What was I doing there? Why would Josie miss me but refuse to talk to me now? Who is Josie? What is she to me?_. But, curiously, Lizzie was always the one to calm her need to know about the brown eyed girl. She was trying this Being A Better Sister thing so she was always gushing to Penelope her new plans to help Josie, either be letting her borrow her favorite lipstick just because, or encouraging her to stand up in the students board, or complaining to her about how being nice was exhausting because Josie uses her lipstick differently than her so now they're flat instead of conserving the form they come with when they're brand new. To things like that Penelope is quick to help with, telling Lizzie that maybe next time she should buy Josie a new lipstick so she won't "break" hers, to which Lizzie always answers with a quick side hug.

But in the moments in which Penelope wasn't thinking about Josie, she was focusing on getting better. Two weeks later, she could already walk around for at least ten minutes before getting tired. She was always accompanied by Emma, Caroline or Hope, who were always quick to catch her if she missed a step or her legs gave out. It was a slow process but she was getting there. The pain in her body had been reduced to just her chess, around the big scar going from the middle of her collarbone to below her breast. Lizzie told her it would fade with time but she was sure the scar was going to be permanent. But nevertheless, she was getting better not only physical but mentally too, sometimes when she's walking around she finds herself knowing the way to places she's never been to. Or she would remember random facts like that MG had told her Civil War was Marvel's dumbest movie and that she used to call Lizzie "Queen of Mean" or that Daisy's were Josie's favorite flowers and yellow was her favorite color. That she liked to sing and watch movies about witches and laugh about the inaccuracies.  
Mostly, she remembers about Josie.

A month after waking up, the pain was just a small ache around her scar, but it was bearable. Her magic was weak but starting to slowly come back to her.

A month and two days after waking up, Caroline and Penelope spent the day together and Caroline told her everything that had happened _before_. From her point of view, at least. She told Penelope about The Merge and how, when she found out about it, she contacted her and drove her insane until she accepted to work with her. How she flew to Belgium with her family, deciding to leave Josie behind, and help her find a cure to save her. When Caroline said she'd done it because she loved her, Penelope couldn't help but laugh.  
"Looks like it was unrequited love," she told her and she took another sip of her coffee, "Josie has no desire to see me."  
"Oh, Penelope, trust me-" she started, putting her hand on top of Penelope's- "she _does_ want to see you. It's just... Josie has a hard time with people leaving, and you, you died and came back without remembering anything that you two went through."  
"I don't know what we went through!" She exploded, "and no one will tell me! What were we? Did I love her like a friend or something else? Why did I _die_ for her?", her voice got louder and louder with each question and she stoped asking them when she felt a sharp pain on her scar.  
Ignoring Penelope's outburst, Caroline's answer was sweet and calm, "You should ask Josie that, I'm afraid."  
Penelope let out a loud sigh and threw herself more into the chair she was sitting. _Who is Josie? _

A month and three days after waking up, Penelope spent exactly four minutes and two seconds outside of Josie's bedroom door, deciding whether or not to knock and talk to her. She decided on the latter, and turned around.  
Two days after that she saw Josie's back turning around the hallway of her bedroom when she was leaving it. She decided not to do anything about it. Josie would talk to her when she wanted to.  
She kept seeing flashes of Josie after that, sitting in one of the common area's couches reading a book on her way to the gardens. Talking to Lizzie and leaving when she approached to say hello. She'd seen her around the hallway of her room a few times too, even if her own room wasn't that close to hers, but she'd never say anything to her. She'd only offer a small smile. She'd give Josie all the time she needed.

Apparently all the time that Josie needed was one more week. She knocked on Penelope's door at five in the morning. She opened it thinking it was probably Hope, about to tell her about a new spell she found, or Lizzie, ready to complain about whatever had happened that afternoon that had made her angry. She froze when she realized it was Josie, Josie looking extremely beautiful with light blue jeans and a pastel yellow Salvatore School hoodie. She never regretted opening her door in boxers and an old band t-shirt more.  
"Hi" the brown eyed girl muttered, "I- I want to show you something," she started nervously, "I mean... If you want to come with me that's it," Penelope noticed the small backpack in Josie's left hand while she kept going on with her ramble, "I- I know I haven't been hanging out with you lately but-"  
"Josie," she interrupted her, "I'd love to go with you wherever it is you want to go." Her bright smile told Penelope that that was the right answer.  
"You might want to get changed then." She said with a smirk.  
After getting dressed and putting into a really warm hoodie because "it's five am, Penelope, it's _cold_", they started walking side by side to the gardens but instead of stopping outside like Penelope thought they would, Josie took her hand and dragged her towards the woods. She felt an oddly calm Deja Vu about it all, the early morning and Josie's hand in hers. They stopped right beside the tree line of the school. They had before them a wide view of a clearing and Penelope realized what they were doing there. They were there to watch the sunrise.  
"I know what you're probably thinking-" Josie started while kneeling and taking a blanket from her backpack- "watching the sunrise, that's so cheesy but-" she sat on it and pat the space beside her- "this place is, was I guess, special for us. And I want to tell you about us, if you want to know." Penelope sat down besides her and, while she was completely mesmerized by the way the soft redish light of the unrised sun reflected on the right side of Josie's face, she was able to murmur "I'd really like that."  
Josie's smile was delightful and Penelope started to wonder what had she done to deserve it. They sat there for a moment, none of them saying anything, just staring at each. Penelope couldn't remember a moment she had looked at Josie for so long except maybe the minutes after waking up but, somehow, she knew she had spent hours on end looking into those brown eyes. Because Josie, in the sunrise light, watching her like she was the most fascinating and intriguing thing of all time, was the most beautiful sight Penelope had ever seen.  
Letting out a long sigh Josie started by the beginning of _before_. Ironically, the first time they had met, they didn't pay attention to each other. They were fourteen and it was the first day of school, Penelope was running late to class and Josie was on her way to calm down Lizzie from a possible breakdown. They bumped into each other, apologized and moved on. It wasn't until later, when Penelope asked her friends who the girl was, that she started to notice Josie more. The first thing she noticed was that she was beautiful but she was even more beautiful when she catched Penelope's eyes and blushed. The second thing she noticed was that she didn't eat meat, because the days the cafeteria served steak she'd happily eat her salad. The third thing she noticed was that whenever Josie was, Lizzie was there too but it wasn't exactly viceversa; she could see Lizzie walking around on her own and with her own couple of friends and MG's shadow behind her, she learned after a while that was when Josie decided to take a time for herself and usually read a book.  
When she finally got the guts to start hanging out with Josie, she realized the girl wasn't just physically pretty but so smart, knowing spells way before they were taught in class and knowing random facts and little tips. She was also extremely funny in a dorky and sweet kind of way, it reminded Penelope instantly of her father and his dad jokes. Josie was kind and always willing to help someone, it was one of the things it made Penelope fall in love with her so quickly, she was kindness to Penelope's harshness and encouraging words to her sassy remarks. It was what had made them such a dynamic friendship.  
Although, after Penelope's fifteen birthday their relationship changed. Their movie marathons became cuddle marathons in which the movie was just a excuse to have their arms around each other. Their goodbyes when one of them left the room became soft kisses on the cheek or long hugs. The blushing and shyness that surrounded them when they first started to hang out was present again around certain topics like who did they'd like to kiss or what'd be their perfect date. "After getting tired of dancing around each other for a while, you asked me out. You were definitely nervou- yes, you were!," Josie added pointing a finger at her and laughing when Penelope let out a puff, "but anyway, you dragged me here at five am in the morning, totally made me miss first period by the way, and brought me here." She finished while moving her arms around her as if saying _Tada! This is why were here_. "This is were we first kissed too." She said quietly, biting her lower lip. A strand of hair fell from where it was resting behind her ear and before Josie's hand could fix it, Penelope's were there, tucking it behind her ear and softly resting her hand on Josie's cheek. Her eyes traveled down to Josie's lips, they had a soft nude shade on them almost imperceptible if she hadn't pay attention, "Can I do it again?," she smiled and added at Josie's confused face, "kiss you, I mean." Josie didn't answer she just took Penelope's face between her hands and kissed her. She knew what she was doing, she knew the ways Penelope liked to be kissed, when she needed to breath in air and when she had to move her head to match her movements. Penelope, on the other hand, had no insight on this, she didn't know the ways to make Josie moan or how not to dump their foreheads together with her abrupt movements. She entangled her hands in Josie's hair and __She___ was kissing Josie again but she could no longer feel wind moving her hairs or smell the earth and dirt around them. They were kissing but they were kissing indoors, the hallway outside the common bathrooms, she noticed. They were kissing and Penelope had no control of her movements but was pulling Josie closer to her, when breathlessly Josie moved her head away from hers and whispered "I hate you." with cold eyes and serious expression, and with no control whatsoever she felt the words "I know." sadly and softly leave her mouth, she could feel the ache in her heart and she could feel the tears trying to leave her eyes but suddenly Josie was kissing her again_ and she was back to the woods with Josie in the pastel yellow hoodie and not the white bathrobe. Breathless once again, she pulled away but this time her eyes weren't cold but warm and happy, "Even though I'd love to keep kissing you like that-" she took Penelope's hand in hers- "I should finish telling you our story." After a small smirk and nod from Penelope she continued, "Once we got together it was fantastic, we could finally be completely ourselves around each other and everyone else. It was the best year of our lives, or mine at least. It made all the fights with Lizzie, about me leaving her for you, worth it. Because I could just go to room room and kiss you and forget that an outside world even existed. But-" she looked up to Penelope and gave her a sad smile- "one day, I went to your room and you were crying, said nothing was wrong. I obviously knew something was wrong, you almost never cry, much less without a reason. You said you wanted to be alone for the rest of the day, I left," she let out a long sigh, the tears were starting to show up on Josie's eyes, "God, how I wish I hadn't left." A tear fell down _and_ _she was once again inside the school, she was in the common area, it was dark and Josie was right in front of her, beautiful in a gorgeous dress but ___crying, completely breaking down__,_ in front of her and Penelope was drying away with her fingers the __tears falling down on Josie's cheeks. She rested their foreheads together and when she pulled away she found herself saying, "I love you, Jojo. I love you with all of my obnoxious, selfish, evil heart._" She blinked and she was listening to Josie again, the flash, no, memory, she realized, only lasting a second. She turned her attention to Josie again, she had stoped talking and was breathing heavily, but continued anyway, "you broke up with me the next day. After that I was a mess, everyone said _you_ were a mess, Lizzie hated you even more than before. I pretend to hate you too, I never really got it right. I'd kiss you when I was drunk and I'd kiss you when magic slugs attacked our brains and I'd think of aways of getting you back or moments in which you'd come back to me and tell me you were wrong and wanted to be together again. I'd have took you in an instant. But God, you were a pain in my butt all that time." She laughed.  
The sun was completely up now so they lay down on the blanket and Josie told her all she could remember from those months after their break-up, from her kissing MG to the monsters trying to find the urn and finally, to Penelope leaving. She had left to Belgium along with her family, Penelope guessed that was the reason behind their long phonecalls instead of a visit, Josie told her about their last goodbye, in which she told her about The Merge and how she left her only witch school to travel Europe with Caroline to find a cure for it. She told her about the day her mother and Penelope showed up to the school, carrying bags that seemed to have a million things. How they didn't really talk to anyone for a few days, except for formal greetings, because they were working in whatever it was they were working on. Josie told Penelope about how they made the ritual for The Merge, even if it was years ahead of it, and how Penelope tricked everyone, including the twins' mother into sacrificing herself for them; how she was planning on letting the twins absorb all of her magic and die, allowing them to live.  
"But..." Penelope wondered out loud, "I'm still here, I mean, I'm alive." Josie smiled, "You are, because you might be smart but you're not smarter than my mother. She noticed what you were trying to do and asked a very powerful witch to put a spell on you, that in case you died you could be able to be brought back. She asked for a miracle, basically-" she added while tucking that same wild strand of hair behind her ear- "but the witch found an old spell, _The Orpheus State,_ I'd keep a person drived by love in a limbo state when they died, only to be brought back by the person they loved the most." Josie stayed quiet for a moment, letting her words sink into Penelope. Her mind was racing and she could see it, Josie guessed she was probably thinking about how she was Orpheus, lost in his love trying to get Eurydice back and how it represented her trying not to lose Josie. She was probably thinking about how Josie was Eurydice, the lost one with no remedy, the one Orpheus loved above all and was loved in return. She knew it because she had that focused look she gets when she's trying to figure something out, the why and hows of something or someone.  
Penelope's mind was a mess. Her hand were the most interesting thing in the world right now. And she couldn't understand anything. All that Josie told her was her. She knew it was her. Josie wouldn't lie. But the story is fucking crazy. She used to be in love with a girl. This girl used to be cursed. But she had died to break said curse. And when she did she was put into some kind of coma and was brought back by love? How_?_.  
"How... How did you...?" She couldn't find the words and Josie wasn't expecting her to, for which she smiled softly, "How did we bring you back? Well, just like in any fairy tale," she laughed, "with a true love kiss."  
She looked up at Josie, "You still love me? After everything you told me I made you go through?", she asked and Josie put her hands on Penelope's face again and said, "You could do or say the worst things imaginable but I'd know that deep down, behind all that cold exterior of a rude bitch, you're just mush and softness trying to help the people you love." She let out a small happy sigh and echoed Penelope's words, "I love you, Penelope. I love you with all of my crazy, selfless, stupid heart."  
"Please," she begged, "kiss me again."  
The moment Josie's lips touched hers, flashes of moments; words whispered and yelled, soft touches and messy tickles went through Penelope's mind and when they were both breathless and they lips were red, resting their foreheads together. Penelope whispered to Josie on the light of the morning, "I remember, Jojo. I remember it all."


End file.
